Forget Kobe's drama and LeBron's lame theatrics, I'll take Kevin Durant, a cold-blooded scorer for one of the NBA's real up and coming teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder.Durant came to the TD Garden last night and dropped 37 points on the Celtics (47-27) in a 109-104 win by the Thunder (46-28).
Imagine if the Thunder were in the Eastern Conference, they'd be a legitimate threat. In the more competitive Western Conference, they probably won't have home court and they'll be fighting an uphill battle.
No worries though, with a Big Three of Durant (15 for 15 from the line, 8 rebounds), Russell Westbrook (21 points, 10 assists) and Jeff Green (17 points), Oklahoma City has the best young nucleus in the association.
With all the ties between Durant and Celtics, who thought they were going to get him in the 2008 draft, there were endless story lines from last night.
Bottom line, Kevin Garnett (18 points, 9 rebounds), Paul Pierce (15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) and Ray Allen (13 points) are probably about to embark on their last playoff season together while Durant, Westbrook and Green are taking their franchise to a new place.
It was a great back and forth game as the Celtics shot lights out (59.5%) but still lost because they couldn't get any stops. Green hit two clutch 3-pointers and Durant got some superstar calls and made the most of them by converting every time at the line.
Rajon Rondo (16 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals) and Rasheed Wallace (18 points in maybe his best game of the season) were awesome and Glen Davis gave the Celts some good minutes off the bench with 10 points.
The free throw line was the difference as Oklahoma City was 28 of 34 and Boston was 13 of 17. The Thunder were up 30-23 after the first quarter but the C's used their best quarter of the season (38 points) to take a 61-57 halftime lead.
Oklahoma City took over in the second half and outscored the home team 53-42.
The C's host the Rockets tomorrow night.
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